Wednesday, March 26, 2008

As mentioned earlier today, at least one Michigan offensive lineman has left the football team. Justin Boren has quit the Wolverines, and he was their best lineman for the upcoming season.

The Michigan offense is going to be filled with holes (and laughter) all season. They lost their only QB, their only RB, their best WR, several key members of the offensive line, and they have to learn a new system with a QB that has never taken a snap. Oh, and they failed to recruit the guy who was "made for Rodriguez' system".

Rumor also has it that Boren's departure may not be the last one of the spring.

At this point, it's not looking pretty for Michigan. Appalachian State may cancel their game against Michigan to open the 2008 season to look for tougher competition (OK, that part is satire)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

No, it's not just the name of David Brent's band (bonus points to anyone who gets that reference).

The Cleveland Cavaliers never really had a doubt about making the NBA Playoffs this year. But it'll be made official sometime this week. The Cavs stand at 40-31 right now and there's 11 games left in their regular season. If they win two more games, they're in. Their next two games, however, are against a couple of the NBAs best, New Orleans (Wed) and Detroit (Sat). Winning both of those would be a big boost towards post-season confidence, and it would secure late April basketball at The Q.

New Jersey could also make it easier on us. Two losses from the Nets and the Cavs get the playoff berth. They play Indiana twice (Wed and Fri) and then Phoenix on Saturday. By next Monday, we'll have clinched.

And the Chicago Bulls still suck. They're the 11th best team in the East. Ha ha.

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Michigan blogs are in panic mode this afternoon. Apparently a couple of offensive linemen are getting ready to quit and/or transfer. Only speculation on names and other specifics, but this has indded been a lot of fun to watch.

In late March, Michigan fires their Head Coach, Tommy Amaker and hires John Beilein away from West Virginia.

This year, Michigan's record was 9-21. 11 and a half games worse than they were under Amaker.West Virginia hired Bob Huggins to lead their team. West Virginia is now 26-10 and will play Thursday night in the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen.

Beilein's old team is slightly better than they were with him as their coach.Beilein's new team sucks a lot more with him as their head coach.

My God, that's hilarious.

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Oh, yeah. I forgot. The Buckeyes will play Dayton tomorrow night in Columbus for the chance to go to New Yortk City and the Final Four of the NIT. We crushed Cal last night, but we should have done that. The Flyers are a good but not great team, but they'll be REALLY motivated to try and knock off the giant school in their own state. Should be a good game.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

First, the bigger news. Yes, Terrelle Pryor signed with us. Yes, it was the most likely scenario, based on a month or so of speculation and "insider rumors".

But don't let the Michiganders fool you, they wanted him BAD, and it is eating up at their very fragile egos that he snubbed them. Regardless of what you may hear elsewhere (i.e. "we didn't want him anyway"), Blue fans were singing a MUCH different tune a few short months ago.

For example, Brian (who always has an excuse) was telling his readers in December that the hiring of Rich Rodriguez may have been told to Pryor first, and that immediately Terrelle told a friend to "put them on my list". MgoBlog reported back then that Pryor was "likely to commit", but shied away from any actual source on that.

In February, he was begging Charlie Batch to send his prodigy to Michigan. He even did it in all caps so you would know he was reeeeealllllly serious. And he even mentioned that "there's no one to throw to at Penn State". But at Michigan, he was sure to have a wide array of targets....like, ummmmm, uhhhhh.....Antonio Bass? Or Greg Mathews? Oh, yeah, there's Adrian Arrington if he doesn't get caught beating up women again.

So it's no surprise that MGoBlog is now trying to bury its' proverbial oversized head in the sand now that Pryor will not set foot in Ann Arbor for another 19 months. Expect Brian to post a few diatribes soon about how his presence in scarlet and gray will mean very little and that he will be a big bust. The cat may know how to use a thesaurus, but his prognostications and his ability to properly dissect are often very very suspect. For proof of that, I take you to this delightful piece, written in August of 2007, when MGoBlog was previewing the Big Ten teams for the 2007 campaign;

It's hard to extrapolate from a freshman year in which (Beanie) Wells was abackup who got most of his carries against Northwestern, Minnesota, MichiganState, and the like. He is unlikely to average 5.5 yards per carry as theprimary threat, especially without Smith, Ginn, and Gonzalez drawing all sorts of attention.

MGB was correct. Wells did not average 5.5 yards per carry on the season.

He averaged 5.9 yards per carry.

And I'm pretty sure that he got a LOT of attention all by himself, especially when he ran for 222 yards against Michigan (by the way, that's 129 yards more than the entire Wolverine offense that day).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

1) A bunch of people to get really excited over their new prospect.2) A bunch of other people to begin screaming about how they never really wanted him and he sucks and he's a troublemaker.

Everyone in the media is reporting that it's between Ohio State and Penn State, except for the media that has the word "Detroit" in their titles....they still believe that Michigan will get him (where he'll immediately start at quarterback, wide receiver, tailback and defensive end because nobody else will).

Pryor was expected to announce about 6 weeks ago, but balked at the last minute, stating he wanted to visit Oregon and Penn State. He never visited Oregon, and the only time he even set foot in Happy Valley was to win the state basketball championship, and he didn't get the "official" visit out of that weekend.

Also, since his delay began, he did not return to Michigan's campus. He did go back to Columbus once more though.

Nothing has changed, except the calendar. He'll be in scarlet and gray in about 12 hours.------------------------UPDATE - Apparently Michigan fans need their diapers changed. Rumor has it that this posting is "entirely inaccurate". Let's see about that, shall we? I've given footnotes to the facts here....

- Oregon visit? Nope, Pryor never made it out west*. BBC 1, Anonymous Pussy 0- Penn State visit? Nope, he never visited Penn State**. BBC 2, Anonymous Pussy 0- Hasn't returned to Michigan campus since delaying his announcement? Nope, he never went back to Ann Arbor***. BBC 3, Anonymous Pussy 0- Pryor went to Columbus since his delay? Yes, he did****. BBC 4, Anonymous Pussy 0- Michigan fans starting the "he sucks anyway" excuse?***** Yep, they started it about 7 hours ago in the mainstream press. BBC 5, Anonymous Pussy 0

That's five points in a row that I win.

Get used to hearing about five in a row. You'll be feeling that pain again in November.

Thad Matta got his 20th win tonight, extending his streak, and the Buckeyes won an easy one 84-66 in the opening round of the NIT over North Carolina (Asheville). Check out some of these stats;

Ohio State's leading rebounder had four boards. Yes, I said four.The Buckeyes hit two free throws on the entire night.We were outrebounded 33-25, and committed 6 more fouls.

And yet, we won easily....why? Because of this stat;

The Buckeyes starting five shot nearly 60 percent from the field.

That was the key, no doubt about it.

Ohio State will play at home again on Monday night, as they await the winner of tomorrow's game between New Mexico and California.

Meanwhile, Akron took a hurried flight to Florida State yesterday and showed no signs of being road-weary as they knocked off the Seminoles 65-60 in overtime. Nick Dials scored something like 35 points in the OT alone. OK, so he actually scored 13 of the Zips 14 points in the extra period, but it was a sight to behold. The kid was on fire, burying three 3-pointers and hitting on all four of his free throw attempts.

Akron will now travel back up north and go play at Massachusetts, but as of this moment, we don't know exactly when that game will be. The decision will be made shortly, but not as of "press time".

Sunday, March 16, 2008

As was expected, Ohio State was left out of the NCAA Tournament. One victory shy. No, I can't say "they got screwed", because they had a BIG chance down the stretch and fell apart. Going 4-7 at the end wasn't good, even if half of those wins were against ranked teams.

However, let me just say this....OREGON??? ARIZONA???? KENTUCKY???? There's 18 wins for each of those teams and THEY get in?

The previous moment of outrage was brought to you on behalf of the fans of Akron (23-10), Cleveland State (21-10), Illinois State (23-9), VCU (24-7), and Dayton (21-10).

Ohio State had their chance and didn't get the job done. In my opinion, the NCAA went with bigger names rather than reward 21-24 win schools with what they indeed deserve.

As for the Buckeyes, they get another chance to extend Thad Matta's 20-win season streak on Tuesday night at home against North Carolina. OK, so it's North Carolina-Asheville. Gimme a break, I'm clinging to relevancy here.

We've been waiting for a long time to hear where superstar quarterback prospect Terrelle Pryor was going to attend college. It was down to two schools (Ohio State and Michigan) as of signing day, but Pryor held off on his announcement and even added two schools to the list (Oregon and Penn State).

If Pryor doesn't announce and sign with a school by April 1st, he's ineligible to play college football in 2008. Obviously, that's not going to happen, but it looked as if Pryor was waiting until the 11th hour to announce.

Until now.

Last night, Pryor's Jennette High School won the PA Class AA state basketball championship. Following the victory, he gave us this tidbit;

"Next week, I’m going to say the school I’m going to, sign it and get it overwith.”

One would correctly assume that we'll have our winner by Friday night.

Even better, Pryor whittled his choices down to OSU and PSU. Which means that Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez is already a colossal loser. His "spread offense" that was supposedly "tailored to fit Pryor's style of play" failed to attract the one component that could make it work....Pryor. Nice job, Rich Rod. Enjoy a long lifetime of getting punked by your rivals.

As for Pryor, it's down to two choices; Go with Ohio State and a proven winner, or stay with your hometown at Penn State and be guaranteed a coaching change at some point in your collegiate career. Yeah, I'm biased....but tell me what part of my previous sentence is wrong, if you can.

One last note - if Pryor announces this week, he'd better do it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Otherwise, the kid has a LOT to learn about manipulating the news cycle to his advantage.

-If he announces Monday, he's drowned out by the sports world's excessive discussion of the NCAA Tournament selection....who got in, who got screwed, etc etc etc.- If he announces Thursday, he's drowned out by a day's worth of first-round tournament action.- If he announces Friday, ditto.

Do the smart thing, Pryor. Announce on Tuesday afternoon. You'll get more action out of it.

UPDATE - Men Of The Scarlet And Gray reminds me that the "official signing deadline" is indeed April 1st, but it's not a deadline for ineligibility. So why the hell is it a deadline at all? Whateva. Either way, Rich Rod still blows donkey balls for failing miserably, and the Michigan blogs have begun an entire "we didn't want Pryor anyway" excuse. That's what you have to do when you lose 37 out of your 22 starters of a team that lost nearly half their home games, and you're facing a season where you wish for a whole slew of cupcake teams like Appalach-----.....ummmm.....never mind.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

As Mississippi State led 64-61 with 2:11 left in overtime, a loud blast washeard inside the dome. The girders near the dome's roof began to swing, and agaping section of the north part of the roof was ripped open, dropping debristhat included nuts and bolts.

The severe storm ripped a hole in the roof of the Georgia Dome duringthe Southeastern Conference tournament Friday, delaying Mississippi State's69-67 overtime win over Alabama for more than an hour and postponing a gamebetween Georgia and Kentucky.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Well, whaddya know......yesterday's "warm-up" round of the Big Ten tournament was actually entertaining. We nearly had a full slate of upsets.

First, 9th-seed Michigan (10-21) knocked off 8th-seed Iowa (13-19) by a surprising score of 55-47. Not that much of an upset, but when you head into the tournament with 9 wins, you're sure as hell not the favored team. Congratulations Wolverines. You actually can claim that you won the season series from SOMEBODY (unless you want to count winning the season series over Eastern Washington 1 game to 0).

Mid-day action gave us another upset when 10th-seed Illinois (14-18) beat 7th-seed Penn State(15-16) on a final shot, 64-63. This one will sting Penn State badly. They had a shot at making the NIT, but falling below .500 will keep them out of post-season play. Winning this game would have put them into the "Field of 97". JoePa must be rolling over in his grave right now.

Finally in the nightcap, 11th-seed Northwetern (8-22) shit their pants in the second half and fell to 6th-seed Minnesota (19-12) 55-52. With a little over 2 minutes to play in the first half, Northwestern led by 16 points at 34-18. Then they realized that there was a reason they had lost 85% of their games in 2008. From that point on, they couldn't have hit water if they fell out of a boat.

Minnesota escaped with the win and many people may now see a win against Indiana as the springboard into the NCAAs.

I disagree. I think beating the Hoosiers is not enough. They need to win tonight, and then also beat either Purdue or Illinois in the semifinals. 20 wins will not get Minnesota in. They HAVE to have 21 and here's why;

It's time for Gopher Trivia!

Minnesota has 19 wins right now. How many of those wins came against a team that will play in the NCAA Tournament?

Answer - zero, maybe one. If Ohio State is selected, that will be the ONLY win the Gophers have against a team in the Big Dance.

After reading that, do you still think a win tonight is enough? Neither do I.

That brings us to Ohio State. Two weeks ago, they were unpacking their bags and preparing for the NIT. Since then, two wins against ranked opponents has put them back on the bubble. Beating Michigan State again tonight will add a third team to that, and it'll get them in. 20 wins will do the trick for the Buckeyes, but only because of those final three.

Hopes are high again in the Buckeye State, especially after seeing the boys win big games recently. But this is not a home game, and we've had a long time since our last game. Do we still have momentum?

Sunday, March 09, 2008

After losing 6 out of 8 games (including two to a pair of goin'-nowhere teams), Ohio State appeared to be headed towards an NIT bid. Then something funny happened on the way to Madison Square Garden....Ohio State found a way to beat TWO ranked teams in a row. They just finished up the regular season with a 63-54 win over 17th-ranked Michigan State.

Poor shooting did in the Spartans. Senior Drew Neitzel scored just 6 points in 30 minutes on 2-9 shooting. Four Buckeyes scored double figures, led by Jamar Butler's 20. Evan Turner only put in 3 points, but it didn't matter....Ohio State shot 50% for the game, and won it going away. 40 points in the second half really did the trick.

So now we need to win one game....just one...to get into the NCAA Tournament. At 19-12, we're not getting in. But a 20th win (accomplished by having three consecutive quality wins) would do it.

Friday afternoon at 230pm, Ohio State plays Michigan State again in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

It's that simple. Win and you're in. Lose and you host an NIT game early the following week.

Either way, it looks like Thad Matta's 20-win season streak is still possible.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

16-20 inches of snow buried me at home over the past two days. My restaurant hasn't been open since Friday at about 7pm (and there weren't many guests in the hours leading up to that), so I haven't had much in the way of "things to do".

Soooooo, since I had my daughter here all weekend, I decided to show her a little historical movie from my own youth. Tonight, she saw "Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure" for the first time. She LOVED it....she's 9, so props to her for appreciating something like that. Someday when she's in her 20s, she'll go watch it again, and she'll actually understand why daddy was laughing so hard when Sigmund Freud was holding a corn-dog at the mall. I think the subtle parts of that movie were what made it so hilarious. Plus, how many other movies have Billy The Kid playing with a Nerf football in ancient Greece?

Hopefully by Monday, the roads will be better and I can get back to work again. This week, I'm supposed to train a new employee....she's Brian Hartline's cousin, and she is SMOKIN hot. No, you can't see pictures. How am I supposed to explain that one? "Hey, can I take a picture of you to put on the internets?" Yeah, that'll work. Just take my word for it.....smokin. Maybe someday I'll be able to get her to agree to SideBoob Friday.

The Buckeyes are now 18-12. Still on the outside of the bubble. They're not getting in at 18 wins, no way, no how. They won't get in with 19 either, so they're not even close yet.

Still, they have their chance. Michigan State comes calling on Sunday afternoon, and they've been as erratic as the Buckeyes over the past 4 weeks. Losing to lowly Penn State, and falling to three of the Big Ten's top four teams.....but absolutely walloping 25-5 Indiana (by 29 points), this team is all over the place.

The Spartans can be dangerous....but will they be dangerous on Sunday? At 24-6, they've secured their place in the NCAA tourney, and there is no possible mathematical scenario that will give them anything except the 4th seed in the Big Ten Tournament. This game is meaningless to them.

In order for Ohio State to make the show, they'll have to beat MSU AND their first opponent in the Big Ten tourney....which, by the way, is guaranteed to be Michigan State. We hold the 5th-seed and the tiebreaker with Minnesota. That kinda sucks for us, because Minnesota is at 18 wins, and they need to beat Illinois (12-18) and Northwestern (8-20) in their first-round Big Ten Tournament matchup to get to 20 wins. Fuckers.

So there it is guys. Beat Sparty twice, or go to the NIT. I'm optimistic, but I still see NIT on the horizon.

Cleveland Cavaliers basketball

Damn, when are we going to get all our players healthy? No Zadrunas, no Boobie Gibson, no Sasha. And yet we're still 5-3 since the trade.

The good news - barring no new injuries, we will be at full strength by playoff time.The bad news - will we be ready with a whole new set of players trying to learn each other during the first round of the playoffs?

Last night was a disappointment, but how many times have we won the second game of back-to-back games on the road? We've had 15 consecutive-night games, and we are 6-9 in the second game of those. Players get tired in those stretches, and I really do hate to see one team travel for back-to-backers while the other team has had a couple days rest. Oh, well. It happens. The good news is that there is ALWAYS at least a day's rest in the NBA Playoffs.

High School basketball

Last year, Canton Timken finished the season with a first-round sectional loss in the tournament. They went 3-18 for the entire year. It was quite typical for the Trojans, who have never made much noise in basketball during my lifetime. Usually, all the good basketball players in Canton City go to McKinley, known well for their athletics.

But something happened in the summer of 2007. A few players decided to transfer from McKinley to Timken (it's a long story, but it has a lot to do with administrative bullshit and a head coach). Timken had a positive outlook for the first time in a LONG time.

Last night, Timken beat Akron Firestone 75-65 in the Regional Semifinals. The Trojans are 24-0, and are one win away from the Final Four. They'll battle Toledo Whitmer (19-5) on Saturday night.

The entire city ignored them for decades, and now the entire city is behind them. Good luck, Timken. Go get 'em.

Following the recent blockbuster trade that sent key players from Chicago to Cleveland, Cleveland to Chicago, and Seattle to Cleveland, but nothing to Seattle (seriously, what did the Sonics get out of that trade?), I have been waiting for today to arrive.

Today, the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers took on the new-look-but-still-suck Chicago Bulls. Even without Zadrunas Ilgauskas, Sasha Pavlovic and Boobie Gibson, the Cavaliers took care of business 95-86. The final score doesn't really capture how close the game actually was, but it does magnify how LeBron James took over the game when it counted the most. And it also showed that the Cavs are no longer a one-man team (well, not ALL the time).

James accounted for a LOT of the team's points in the first half (more than 50%, to be precise), and he did score 6 points down the stretch when we pulled away, but James now knows he has a LOT of depth around him. When double-teams converged on him, he dished off to Joe Smith (who scored 8 4th-quarter points), or found a wide-open Wally Szczerbiak behind the 3-point line (17 points for the new papa off the bench)*.

The final 5 minutes of the game was fun. Watching LeBron take over a game, seeing Andres Noccioni try to bear-hug him to keep him from getting the ball (and still failing), witnessing Larry Hughes fling up 23-footers with his eyes closed, and seeing JoaKim Noah realize that he's a bat-boy in a man's game....that all was quite enjoyable.

But not nearly as much fun as watching the subhumans at Blog-A-Bull desperately flail their arms in outrage. Some of the highlights from their open game thread;

What a shitty gameAnd the cavs don't really play basketball... It's just Bronball. As a basketball purist I am nauseated.by Bass on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 01:18:00 PM EDT

I'll take a charge over a travelBut it would be nice if they called traveling on LBJ at least ONCE a game...by Bass onSun Mar 02, 2008 at 01:28:38 PM EDT

Not ONE WORDabout the Bulls during half time...no surprise.And who really gives a crap about LeBron being the youngest player to hit 10,000 points?Rather academic when you don't ever play one college game and go straight to the NBA from high school.by BullishPNW onSun Mar 02, 2008 at 02:30:31 PM EDT

That was a clear fucking moving pickby Lebron on that 3 point shotby RogersPark Kris onSun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:11:57 PM EDT

That onewould have been nice to get a travel call on!Which it was...by Bass onSun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:29:29 PM EDT

Keep in mind....these are fans of the FUCKING CHICAGO BULLS!

Zero recollection of what the Jordan Rules were, I take it? Do you have ANY memories of the 4-step cha-cha that Jordan got to take every night? That infamous "final shot" of his career against Utah? He pushed off and got away with it.

Are the NBA refs usually easier on the superstars? Yes.Do violations often get overlooked? Yes.Is it unfair? Yes.

But the LAST people who should EVER bitch and whine about it are Bulls fans.

Thank God we won't have to deal with these losers in the playoffs.

* - side note - Szczerbiak named his newborn son "Maximillian Jack". Yes, the kid's name is Max Jack Szczerbiak. Say it out loud. S'fun.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

As the past few weeks have unfolded, I have been expecting the Buckeyes to break out of their slump, to get their 20th win, and to get into the NCAA tourney.

It doesn't look like those will all happen anymore.

The Bucks lost their 6th game in the past 8 contests tonight, 71-57 to Minnesota. The loss drops their record to 17-12, and it looks like it'll take a minor miracle to get into the Big Dance.

They have home games against NCAA-locks Purdue and Michigan State, followed by the Big Ten Tournament.

Maybe, just maybe if they win both home games and two games in the tournament, they might be able to salvage a berth in the NCAAs...but I just don't see it happening right now. The only other option is to win the Big Ten tournament, which will require four wins in four days in Indianapolis.

An NIT bid is most likely on our schedule, and at least it'll mean some more home games. And a better chance for Thad Matta to continue his streak of 20-win seasons.....